Peachy Keen

Do you know anyone who uses that phrase? My dad used to. I haven’t heard him say it for a long time but he use to throw this retro gem out there every once and a while to make my brother and I laugh. What is peachy keen? Playing outside with your friends on a warm summer night, the cool new bike you got for your birthday…

This Peach Vanilla Bean jam is peachy keen. I say jam, but I didn’t quite chop the peaches finely enough so I ended up with more of a compote. Hey, it’s still good and who doesn’t love chunks of sweet, vanilla-y peach on just about anything? Lee tried some jam on pancakes and gave it a good report. I glopped it on bread for lunch yesterday and declared my sandwich a dessert-worthy treat.

I knew I had to make this jam as soon as I saw it on Smells-Like-Home. Peaches are delicious on their own, but add the deep, earthy flavor of vanilla beans and they reach an out-of-this-world level of yum. I could barely keep my fingers out of the pot while the peaches cooked. They smelled so good! When I finally got to taste the product of more than an hour of simmering, I was not disappointed. The chunky jam is perfect with cheese or nut butters on a sandwich, dreamy on toast, pancakes or waffles, and I’m willing to bet it would make a great ice cream topping as well.

You don’t need a ridiculous amount of peaches for this canning project. I bought a flat at COSTCO and only need 5 out of maybe 9 or 10 large peaches. A scale make measuring for this recipe much easier. My 5 peaches weighed 3 pounds but that will vary with the size of your fruit.

One reason I was excited to make this recipe was the package of vanilla beans haunting my pantry. Amazon was a great source for vanilla beans. A huge package came at a great value and now I don’t have to hoard them – I can feel free to experiment with vanilla beans in different recipes.

Head on over to Smells-Like-Home for the recipe! The ingredient list is short and simple so this is a great first-time canning project! I ended up with 5 pint jars that I can’t wait to share!

Unfortunately, peaches are rubbish by the time they get here so I’ll just have to imagine how this jam turned out. I will be passing this recipe on to a friend who lives in France and has two gorgeous peach trees. Your jam looks like jars of sunshine 🙂

We should totally do a jam exchange… It might be a little impractical via U.S. mail, but we went a little nuts this year and I think jam (or compotes/preserves) are meant to be traded. Derek and I did our first canning projects this summer and I am hooked.